Icarus Leviathan

Hailing from Somerville, Massachusetts, Ian Sutton is a bit of a visionary in the custom bike-building arena. No wonder, having studied under the tutelage of Koichi Yamaguchi at his Frame Building School in Rifle, Colorado. In martial arts there exists the maxim, ‘Even the masters have masters’ and Koichi continues the expertise granted to him from his experience working at 3Rensho. This TT frame is Ian’s experimental, personal ride, and bears the DNA of Yamaguchi’s ingenuity.

The missing seat tube is a striking difference to the traditional diamond layout, but the seat stays have been built with over sized tubing to compensate and as this is a TT-specific frame there is no real need for lateral stability as Ian will, predominantly, be sitting down in an attempt to maintain an aerodynamic profile. To this end, there are extra reinforcements between the seat stays and the bottom bracket. The custom handlebar arrangement will also assist in aerodynamics, as will that head tube, reminiscent of the Cinelli Laser.

The one aspect of this design that I cannot comprehend, however, is the Leviathan title. For such an air-borne marque as Icarus, and considering this particular frame’s preoccupation with the fleet dynamic of air, exactly why it is named after a demon of the deep, one of the seven princes of Hell and its gatekeeper is something only Ian Sutton could tell you.

It is indeed beautifully made and beautifully finished, but the sheer amount and complexity of the bracing required to make up for the lack of a seat tube shows the basic soundness of the traditional double triangle frame geometry. You can change it, but you cant change it much…